The IPA Blog

Dr. Sathish Subramanian on Microbe Immaturity and Malnutrition

Plumpy’ Nut may have a silly name but its mission—to feed malnourished children—is deadly serious. This ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF in aid circles) made of milk powder, sugar, oil, peanut paste, vitamins and minerals along with locally made mixtures has succeeded in reducing deaths in children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in poor countries.

Immature Microbes Linger after RUTFs

But studies show that these children don’t always catch up to their healthy peers. Scientists now surmise that microbes may have a role in that deficit. Speaking recently at the Harvard Probiotics Symposium in Boston, Sathish Subramanian, MD, PhD shared findings from his work done under the guidance of Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon along with colleagues in Bangladesh. The title of his presentation was: “Gut Microbiota Maturation and Undernutrition.”

Using high-throughput sequencing and machine-learning methods, the team found that “SAM is associated with significant relative microbiota immaturity that is only partially ameliorated following two widely used nutritional interventions.”

That immaturity also correlated with anthropometric measurements.

Speaking recently at the Harvard Probiotics Symposium in Boston, Sathish Subramanian, MD, PhD shared research on new targets in malnutrition.